‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ and History vs. Memory

In a scene from the novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz, two Jewish prisoners sneak a few moments alone together behind an administration building at the eponymous Nazi camp complex. Lali, the protagonist, asks Gita, his love interest, for her last name. She refuses to answer, insisting that she is just a number. “You should know that,” she tells him. “You gave it to me.”